3. Form your team and develop department challenge

Form your team

Although GenAI solutions are technically IT solutions, they require more types of team members to be successful than a typical, non-GenAI IT tool would take. You’ll need:

  • Program subject matter experts who know the data. They can tell if the GenAI solution is producing accurate outputs.
  • Security experts. They can make sure the solution is behaving as expected.
  • Labor Relations experts. They can coordinate with CalHR as needed help ensure adherence to collective bargaining obligations and, when applicable, provide notice and bargain before implementing changes that may affect employees’ terms and conditions of employment.
  • Staff assigned to own the solution as a product. They can think about future improvements you want to make to the solution.

Your executives should know who the team members are in case they have questions. And because GenAI solutions are still just tools that your staff will use, you’ll want to include leaders. They can keep your workforce informed about changes to processes and daily work.

Building your team before you begin your market research will ensure that you fully understand the business problem you’re trying to solve. And having IT staff on the team will ensure the right technical considerations are made.

We’ll have more detailed guidance on the team members, their roles, and responsibilities, in 2025. If you want to begin building your GenAI product team now, email genai@govops.ca.gov for more information.

Develop your department challenge

If you want to hear about possibilities from vendors, you should create a department challenge for them to respond to. A department challenge is a very open-ended “How might we…” question that doesn’t presume a solution or process. This allows innovators to be as creative as possible.


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